Such items may seem odd to some, but these retailers understand their customer base -- a group of young, strong, determined and armed women. And just because their bullets may be fired from pistols with rhinestone-studded grips doesn't mean they shouldn't be taken seriously.

These women are among a growing population of gun owners who fiercely fight for their right to own and carry a gun for self-protection.

Colorado Gun Dialog

CU News Corps, an investigative news project that operates within the Journalism & Mass Communication program at the University of Colorado, has spent much of 2013 tracking Colorado gun deaths. Read more about the Colorado Gun Dialog project at coloradogundialog.com .

"A woman with pepper spray is smart, a woman who takes self-defense is prepared, but a woman with a gun is scary," said Rachael Makowski, a 25-year-old nanny in Westminster, Colo. "And when it comes down to my life or theirs, I want them to be just as afraid of me as I am of them."

Self-reported gun ownership -- among both men and women in the U.S. -- is the highest it has been since 1993.

A 2011 Gallup poll found that 47 percent of all Americans claimed to have a gun in their home. Of those Americans, 43 percent of women reported they live with guns in their homes. In February 2013, Gallup reported that 15 percent of all American women personally owned a gun.

In Colorado, the number of FBI background checks for gun purchases over the first 10 months of 2013 -- 433,482 -- has already eclipsed last year's total by nearly 20,000.

Further, according to data compiled by CU News Corps and provided by 46 county coroners across Colorado, women 18-34 years old, more often than any other group of women, are the victims of gun violence. According to gun educators, women of this age demographic are also the people most commonly enrolling in gun education classes.

Colorado Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Susan Medina said that the organization does not track the number of guns or gun owners in Colorado. However, extrapolating from Gallup, FBI and CU News Corps numbers, it appears that more Colorado women than ever own guns or have access to them, and that creates a greater need for education about responsibility and safety.

Gun safety courses have always existed, but Second Amendment advocates argue that there has never been a better time than now for women -- especially young women -- to understand how to use a gun to defend themselves.

The teacher

According to Billy Cates, general manager at Rocky Mountain Shooters Supply in Fort Collins, Colo., many female gun owners do not understand how to use their guns. If an intruder were to enter their house, would they know how to take the gun off safety? Would they know how far the bullet would travel? Would they know what to do if the gun malfunctioned?

That's why Cates is here -- to educate people and increase the number of responsible gun owners.

Cates has worked in the gun industry for more than 30 years. During this time, he has helped people learn about their guns and how to safely execute a variety of gun tactics.

The National Rifle Association maintains a network of more than 105,000 instructors and trainers who offer educational classes dedicated to a variety of gun-related topics. According to USA TODAY, the NRA certified 5,000 additional instructors since April 2011 to accommodate the increased number of students attending gun classes.

Cates teaches a variety of gun education classes including "NRA Basic Pistol," "NRA Personal Protection in the Home" and a variety of women-only classes designed to ease some of the common anxieties associated with female gun education.

"Owning a gun is just the first step, "Cates said. "Learning how to use it takes practice, courage and determination."

It also takes trust.

Brittany Berich, 21, works with Cates at RMSS. Berich joins an ever-growing list of women with a concealed-carry permit. As part of the requirements for obtaining the permit, Berich took one of Cates' women-only classes.

"He has a great reputation for teaching classes that make women feel at ease," Berich said.

Cates works to relieve some of the common anxieties associated with women entering gun education courses.

"Many women feel like they might be unable to ask questions that they think may sound stupid in front of men who have more experience with guns," Cates said.

The students

The women taking gun education classes fall into three categories -- young, college-aged women living on their own, middle-aged women with families and elderly women who may feel defenseless or find themselves living alone again after their husbands have died.

All three age groups express a similar reason for enrolling in gun education classes -- self-protection.

So, what happens when pepper spray and right hooks don't cut it? That's when guns come into play.

Rachael Makowski, 25, owns a gun for both self-protection and recreation. She says she feel more comfortable knowing there is a gun in her home. Although she has not taken any formal education, Makowski grew up with guns and feels confident in her ability to use them.

"The upside to having a gun during a home invasion is they are loud. My neighbors will hear a gun go off, they won't hear my screams or pepper spray," she said. "I use pepper spray and I've taken self-defense. To me it's not one or the other -- I can have all three, so I do."

Melissa Ralston, 26, works for Farm Bureau Insurance in Aurora, Colo. Ralston took Hunter Safety and a concealed carry class. She says she grew up with guns.

"My dad is a police officer and it was important to him that my brother and I both knew how to handle and shoot guns safely, as well as respect their abilities," Ralston said. "The power and ability of a gun is daunting, but not being able to protect your family if someone with a gun tried to break into your house should be scarier."

Berich, like Ralston, said that a gun's capabilities can be very intimidating, especially to women who are not familiar with their weapon.

"You have to have a healthy respect for those guns," Berich said.

Educational courses, like those taught at Rocky Mountain Shooters Supply and other gun shops across Colorado, exist for the purpose of helping people gain familiarity, comfort and confidence with their guns. The instructors insist safety is the number one priority.

Owning a gun is a personal decision -- one that may not suit everyone. However, the 2011 Gallup poll shows that nearly one in three Americans personally own a gun and nearly half of the country's households do. And each year, more and more Coloradans attempt to buy guns.

In 2012, the FBI -- through its National Instant Criminal Background Check System -- conducted 414,838 background checks on Colorado residents who attempted to purchase guns, which was a 23 percent increase from the previous year. For the first 10 months of this year, the FBI has conducted 433,482 background checks -- that's one background check for every 12 Coloradans.

Among those Coloradans are women like Makowski, Ralston and Berich who understand and respect the power of a gun and realize that a lack of education and familiarity drastically limits their ability to protect themselves.

Cates compares gun familiarity to changing a tire.

"You don't want to get your owner's manual out in the middle of the night and figure out how to change your tire," Cates said. "Ideally, you would have an idea ahead of time."

"What would you do, for example, if you woke up in the night, heard someone come down your hallway -- how would you handle that, what would your reaction be?"

The cheerleaders

Katherine Whitney and Elisa Dahlberg represent Women for Concealed Carry, a group that exists to support women who want to exercise their right to carry a gun. According to Whitney, WCC's work is carried out primarily through legislative advocacy and public speaking to educate lawmakers, students and the general public about responsible concealed carry.

Last spring, the group successfully lobbied against a proposed bill that would have repealed concealed carry on college campuses in Colorado.

Dahlberg said that a well-rounded gun education should include some self-defense classes that "teach situational awareness -- something that too many people lack these days, being too distracted by electronic devices."

It is not uncommon to see women walking through a dark park at night staring into the lighted screen of her cell phone. While a woman may carry a phone in the event she needs to call for help, she also will keep a constant awareness of her surroundings. Self-defense tactics, paired with pepper spray and a gun increase a woman's chances of defending herself.

Society accepts and encourages women to carry pepper spray and learn self-defense. Guns, on the other hand, provoke a heated debate throughout the country. WCC represents one side of the debate.

State Sen. Evie Hudak came under fire last spring in response to her comments to Amanda Collins, Women for Concealed Carry director, during a legislative committee hearing on the bill to repeal concealed carry on Colorado campuses.

Collins assumed her position with WCC after she was attacked and raped while unarmed. Collins fights adamantly for a woman's right to carry a gun, in the hopes that other women may be better able to defend themselves if found in a position similar to Collins' attack.

"I just want to say that, actually statistics are not on your side even if you had a gun," Hudak told Collins. "And chances are that if you would have had a gun, then he would have been able to get that from you and possibly use it against you."

Hudak cited statistics from the Colorado Coalition Against Gun Violence: "For every one woman who used a handgun to kill someone in self-defense, 83 were murdered by them."

Hudak is currently the target of a movement to recall her election. Two other Colorado legislators have already fallen victim to the recall movement, which bristles at five laws passed in the 2013 session, including one that limits magazine capacities and one that requires background checks for gun ownership transfers.

Cates disagrees with Hudak's argument and notes that a woman does not have to actually kill her attacker to defend herself.

"How many assaults are prevented without having to actually kill someone, but rather just brandishing the gun?" Cates asked.

And make no mistake, women are carrying and brandishing guns, whether they pull out a bedazzled pink-gripped handgun from their couture purse or yank a Derringer from their bra-suspended holster. Cates and the rest of the country just hope that if they arm their bodies with guns, they also arm their minds with knowledge.

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